EU affairs
- 17.01.2018

Irish Taoiseach speaks up for devolution at the European Parliament

In his official address to the European Parliament on 17 January, the Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, spoke up for devolution. He stated: "The Europe of the future, I believe, must (...) where appopriate, devolve some powers back to member states, municipalities and regions". He then added: "I also support the Subsidiarity and Proportionality Taskforce. It is interesting that, on many matters, US states and Canadian provinces, even counties and municipalities, have greater autonomy and greater variation among them than EU member states currently have. Do we have the balance right? And does everything have to be harmonised and standardised?"